Brunswick shrimpers spend time ashore repairing gear

BRUNSWICK - They who go down to the sea in ships, must also spend time in port repairing their fishing gear.

Capt. Andrew Ross and first mate Dale Bennett of the shrimp boat Bernice II spent Thursday morning on the dock repairing the steel cables that haul the vessel's trawling nets.

The 65-year-old wooden shrimp boat, anchored nearby, is likely the oldest working shrimp boat on the waterfront at Mary Ross Waterfront Park in downtown Brunswick. Like all vessels, old or new, it needs regular maintenance and repairs, Ross said.

"M&R is year-round. There's always something to do," Bennett said with a laugh.

Ross and Bennett deftly spliced and reinforced the net cables with painstaking precision. They sealed the intricate series of knots on the cables with duct tape, then wove them together in a bundle tough enough to hold a fine mess of shrimp.

Finding and catching the shrimp has not been as much of a problem as in past years. The economy, however, is threatening to sink the season for many commercial trawlers, they said.

"It's worse than it's ever been. The bottom fell out of the price this year," said Ross, a lifelong shrimper. "We're only getting 40 cents a pound for the big ones: shrimp that are 20-23 count per pound."

Consumers, however, may pay $7 or more per pound for the same shrimp at a store or fish market, they said.

They and other Georgia shrimpers have said their distributors tell them with restaurants closing during the recession, demand for shrimp has fallen. At the same time, fuel costs have remained high, leading many boat captains to simply stay ashore.

On Sept. 4, shrimpers met in McIntosh County with state legislators from the coast, two members of U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston's staff and Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials to discuss the situation.

In 2005, fishermen won a round against foreign competitors when the U.S. Department of Commerce concluded importers were dumping shrimp on the market at prices below the actual cost of harvesting and processing. But the federal government and large processors pocketed most of the fines rather than the fishermen.

"It's getting to the point where you can't hardly even make a living anymore," Ross said.

teresa.stepzinski@jacksonville.com, (912) 264-0405

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